Her Saving Curse
by SilverZelenia
Summary: Kelsey has been captured by Lokesh, Kadam and Nilima are MIA, and the brothers have no leads on her location. She's on her own against a magic-wielding madman. What's a girl to do, if her last chance comes with a heavy price? Her saving grace... or curse? - Picks up after her capture at the end of Voyage. This will be Kelsey X Ren, I'm telling you now.
1. Taken

**Her Saving Curse**

**Chapter 1 - Taken**

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The first sensation Kelsey was aware of was that of a throbbing headache. The next was prickles of pain shooting through the back of her head, like someone was relentlessly attacking her brain with an ice pick. Slowly, she sat up, letting out a weak sound of protest as sharp jolts were sent through her aching body by the movement.

Dazed brown eyes opened, then shut immediately as light from the barred window opposite her flooded in. Any other time Kelsey wouldn't really have minded having a window in her prison cell, but - wait. Cell?

She ignored the pain and scrambled up onto her knees, squinting around the cell as her head turned wildly from side to side. Confusion was etched onto her dirty, bruised face. Cold, gray stone walls surrounded her on three sides, the fourth occupied by floor-to-ceiling metal bars.

"Ren?" Her voice came out hoarse, like a frog. She started to call out again, but nothing came out but a dry, raspy sound. Her throat felt like a wildfire was raging inside of it. That was when it hit her, like a brick to the already-scratched face.

Lokesh. The ship... Her capture.

Her knees buckled, and Kelsey sank down the wall to land in a heap on the floor. She stared blankly at the bars of her window, no emotion showing except for disbelief. Surely it was a dream - a bad one - he hadn't _actually _gotten his hands on her? And so she sat, unmoving, until a metallic clang brought her back to her senses.

A guard was placing a tray of food on the floor, eyes trained on the prisoner; looking almost fearful; it was quite clear he wanted away from her as fast as possible. Kelsey simply stared at him in bemusement, wondering what exactly Lokesh had said about her to make a man well over twice her size fear her so. Several more minutes had passed before she bothered to rouse herself and move towards the tray.

Her steps were as unsteady as a drunk's, but eventually she made her way over, despite how the world - well, her _cell_, to be accurate- was spinning 360's around her. The 'food' on the tray, as it turned out, was a hunk of stale bread, cold soup, and a jug of lukewarm water. Kelsey heaved a sigh, but pushed the tray across the floor to the window with a resigned air. After all, if there was anyway possible to escape, it wasn't going to be by collapsing of hunger because she turned her nose up. Beggars - or prisoners, for that matter - couldn't be choosers.

As she sat cross-legged before the tray, the young woman had to bite back a gasp as her reflection appeared below her. She felt awful, but she hadn't expected to look so dreadful. The murky brown liquid was no doubt distorting her appearance, but it couldn't have been responsible for all of it.

Her brown locks were matted with wild rat's nests, and there was even dried blood in it on one side. One eye was dark with bruising; her face was smeared with dirt, and marred by various small cuts and bruises. Her lips were cracked, chapped, and tasted of blood when she licked them. Judging by her aches, the rest of her body wasn't faring much better.

Resignedly ignoring the gruesome image before her, Kelsey picked up the spoon with her right hand and stirred the concoction she was calling dinner. It obviously had vegetables of some kind in it, but they were slimy and indiscernible except for one soggy carrot chunk. Occupied with the task of trying _not_ to think about what she was eating, her thoughts turned elsewhere.

She remembered Kadam and Nilima vanishing; the thought that they might be somewhere safe lifted her spirits somewhat. She thought of dropping Fanindra off the side of the boat with a triumphant sort of air - she'd figuratively gotten to spit in Lokesh's face with that one, at least. He hadn't gotten the snake, and he hadn't gotten the princes - at least, she hoped not. She knew without a doubt that her tigers would stop at no ends to get her back, and that was both comforting and worrying at the same time.

Her thoughts came to an abrupt halt with the next spoonful of soup. A piece of meat of a questionable identity was floating in the muddy brown water. Cow tongue? Lamb meat? Last week's road kill? There was no way of knowing, but the sight of it was so repulsive it took all Kelsey had not to cough up what she'd already managed to swallow. She polished off the bread out of sheer willpower; any appetite she'd had had gone done the drain by that point, and the rest of the soup was poured out the window.

She rinsed the bowl out with a bit of the water after drinking her fill, then filled it once more. Kneeling, she splashed the face that, sadly, was as battered as it had seemed beforehand. With none-too-few winces and quiet yelps, she scrubbed at her face and arms until she was certain her fingernails had scraped off an entire layer of skin. Then the real work began - her hair. By the time she could comb her fingers through with relative ease, her arms were burning with exhaustion, and the water remaining in the bowl was a squirm-worthy russet-brown color from blood and dirt. That too was thrown out the window, and the tray, minus the remaining water, was placed by the door.

Keeping busy had kept her mind off of things, but now she was at a loss as to what to do. In the end she settled for getting the wet, stringy hair out of her face. It was braided in a few short minutes, tied off with a piece of cloth ripped from the hem of her battered jeans.

Now that the world was no longer spinning, Kelsey leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes, listening to the silence all around her. Being around Ren and Kishan constantly, she was used to noise - squabbling over food, squabbling over _her_, picking at each other - it was never really a quiet affair unless something was wrong. The inky blackness of night was settling over the landscape outside her window, and it wasn't long until she succumbed to her fatigue and entered dreamland.

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**So, I love the Tiger Saga & the mythology (even though sometimes Kelsey irritates me, haha), and I've had this idea for ages. I'm not joking - aaaages. I've finally gotten around to the first chapter (obviously, as you've just read it. ;)) Reviews are always loved - tell me what you think! Flames welcomed - they'll be used to toast my marshmallows! :) Chapter two, coming right up!  
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	2. Birdsong

**Her Saving Curse**

**Chapter Two: Birdsong**

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Kelsey woke the next morning to sunlight streaming down on her face, and a song. Brow furrowed, she sat up and squinted at the source of light until her eyes adjusted. There, sitting on the bottom of the window, between two bars, was a bird. It was small - it would have been able to perch on one hand - with an altogether indistinguishable white belly, and brown feathered head and back.

But it wasn't it's appearance that enthralled her, it was the sound it was making - the bird's head was tilted to the side, as if it was studying her, and a trilling sound was escaping it's beak. The song started out with a low, quiet note, then shot up sharply with several high notes, another long low note, and several other she couldn't pick out, repeating the pattern over and over. It sang for several minutes, with only short pauses in between, hopping back and forth on the window ledge. Just as the song was beginning again, an answering trill sounded from somewhere outside, and the bird was gone in a heartbeat.

A twinge of sadness shot through her - it was, after all, her only company since her capture. Unless, of course, you counted the wordless guard who was at that very moment placing yet another tray inside her cell. No doubt this one held another dose of stomach-turning 'food'.

Heaving a sigh, she crawled over on her hands and knees to inspect her breakfast, not feeling the need to get to her feet. This morning, it was more stale bread, a piece of moldy-edged cheese, and another chunk of questionable gray meat. She made it farther into this meal, turning her mind elsewhere as much as she possibly could; reasoning to herself that if there was anyway possible to get out it wasn't going to be by collapsing of malnutrition. She ate with one hand, tracing cracks and rough patterns on the stone wall with her free left hand. It wasn't until she had to look down to pull off a piece of meat that the thought crossed her that it's gray coloring was reminiscent of the pallor of a dead body.

It was that thought, this time, that made her stomach turn, and she bit back the acidic taste of bile as she nudged the tray away with her foot. Heaving a sigh, Kelsey stood up and leaned against the window. Her forehead pressed against the bars, staring outside with a longing air. The fresh breeze blowing past her face was tantalizing, bringing with it smells of flowers and the crisp smell of an approaching storm.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid, _stupid_," She muttered. "I should have listened to Ren and stayed hidden or something, but _no._" There was a twinge of annoyance at herself of all people as she spoke, and then a humorous thought occurred to her mind. Didn't they say talking to yourself was the first sign of madness?

"Well, if I'm already going batty now, who knows how I'll be in another week," She gave a wry, crooked sort of grin at the thought.

By midday - or she _assumed _midday, by the position of the sun - the storm she had smelled earlier had rolled in, and Kelsey was huddled against the cell door, knees drawn up to her chest, as the wind howled. Rain was pelting in through the window - as it had no glass, merely bars - and her stone prison was throughly soaked and cold in no time at all. Kelsey, herself, wasn't faring much better. Her hair was sopping wet and plastered to her face and neck except when a wind gust would catch it and send it flying around her face in a brown whirlwind. _He does want me alive, right? _She thought. It was a bit ridiculous to go through all the trouble of locating and capturing her, only to put her somewhere where she might get ill from the elements.

Kelsey was soaked to the bone and shivering by the time her guard, a new one, came slowly into sight creeping towards her cell. This one watched her just like the one before had, though not quite as flighty looking, more like suspicion. He pulled a key out of his pocket and then looked down at where she was sitting against the door. After glaring impatiently at her for a moment, he barked something in Hindi at her over the storm.

"Dūra haṭō, aba!"

After she stared at him for a moment without moving, he said it again and gestured with his hands at her in an extremely frustrated manner. She didn't have a clue what he'd said, but from the key and the way he moved his hands, she got the gist of it - move. And so she did, scooting backwards towards the window, ignoring the rain lashing her back. The guard relaxed somewhat, but still glared at her. He started to put the key int he lock, but there came another Hindi word she didn't know from back down the corridor, and the guard froze, tapping his foot impatiently. Another figure, a man, strode into view, said something, and then the door was finally open.

The first guard jerked her roughly to her feet by her wrist, and she was pulled out of the cell, arms held behind her and forced to move forwards in between the two. The first guard was gripping her wrists tight enough she was certain there would be a bruise, and the second was walking ahead of them with long, fast strides she could hardly keep up with the way she was being held.

"Where are we going?" Her voice came out a tad timid for her liking, and she winced as the guard holding her tightened his grip when she spoke.

Without looking back, the guard ahead of them said, in heavily accented, rough English,

"Lokesh wishes to speak."

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**So there we have it, chapter two! Sorry if the Hindi is wrong, I haven't been able to learn the language yet (stupid language course-lacking school...) so I used Google Translate. It means 'Move away, now!'. Also, the bird is an Indian Wren Warbler, which I have only seen pictures of, else the song would be described better. Look them up if you'd like. :) This chapter's a bit of a filler, but the plot starts progressing more after this, promise. :) I wrote a portion of this while eating Mattar Paneer (with my right hand, of course.. Well, and a plastic fork...), drinking Dr. Pepper, and having a rambling, broken conversation with our iPad's Siri in Japanese (not fluent in it yet, lol... It was.. _entertaining._ XD) I am the MASTER at multitasking (unless schoolwork is involved, then I'm the master procrastinator). Review responses are below this - as always, reviews loved, critique welcome, flames will be used to make s'mores!  
**

** Tiger Warrior09: After laughing quite loudly at your review, I've taken it as a compliment that my descriptions are that good (and... revolting?). Thanks!**

** Firefly264: Thanks! :)**

** Kishangirl1368: Thanks so much! It means a lot to hear that - I want to write books, and FanFiction is a great way to put my creativity (well, and can't-sit-still-have-to-do-something ADHD, as well) to use and get writing practice. I definitely will be continuing it, I have a plan for the plot that I'm liking. Glad you like it! :)**


	3. Opinion

**Her Saving Curse**

**Chapter 3 - Opinion**

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Hissing in pain, Kelsey spat out an uncomplimentary word at the guard who seemed to only speak Hindi, the one that had just shoved her roughly down the hallway to hurry her up, resulting in her stumbling and slicing her palm on the wall when she tried to steady herself. Her hand had caught on what seemed to be an old, rusty nail sticking out of another cell door, the tip of which glistened with shiny red blood, the sight of which made her stomach drop.

Kelsey had never liked seeing blood; it always seemed so _wrong_. Blood was something that was meant for the inside of your body – it wasn't supposed to pour from wounds like water from a broken fire hydrant; it was something that did its job without being seen as long as you didn't give it cause to meet the open air. Aside from that, even, she didn't like it because it was normally Ren and Kishan who got hurt, and that was never something she liked to witness, and Kelsey had bad memories associated with how bloody people could become when her parents had died.

The torn flesh on her hand burned and itched, dripping blood onto the uneven floor despite cupping her other hand over the injury.

"Lokesh wishes to speak," The second guard repeated in his choppy, garbled version of English, stopping them at a door several minutes later.

The trio had passed into slightly nicer accommodations, with cells no longer lining the opposite side of the hall, and the walls and floor having been smoothed out far better than they had been in the direction of Kelsey's cell.

Kelsey looked up at the English-speaking guard, who had two feet on her modest height, curious as to any emotion being shown on his face towards his prisoner, but the man simply glared and pushed her through the door; it was pulled shut behind her with a slam.

Brown eyes wandered the room; observing the empty fireplace, bricked walls, and intricately carved wooden furniture. Kelsey took a step forward to examine a carving on a shelf, only to gasp when her foot caught on something sticking up from the rug.

Lying before her, in bright orange, striped glory, was obviously the skin of a large Bengal tiger. Its paws were spread out to form an 'X' on the ground, claws still attached, with a long, solid, black-tipped tail sticking straight out behind the slaughtered animal.

The tiger's head was still attached, shrunken slightly in death, its mouth open in an eternal snarl at the door she had come from. The canine teeth of the big cat curved downwards towards its lower jaw, slightly yellowed fangs that held a vaguely pearly sheen.

Kelsey backed up against the wall, eyes and mouth open as she stared at the trophy resting on the floor; it's glassy, lifeless eyes seemed to stare right at her, even in death. The young woman dug her fingernails into the wall as she gave a small squeal, still staring at the formerly powerful creature in a horrified, fascinated manner.

It was only when she heard the chuckling that she remembered that she was not, in fact, alone.

"You don't appreciate the décor, darling? There'll be a white and a black one there to join it before too long, you know."

The voice that came from the handsome young form Lokesh had donned was clearly amused at her disgust for the tiger's fate, and his lips curled into a small smile as he watched her tremble slightly as she digested the meaning behind the simple statement he'd made.

Kelsey's eyes were trained on Lokesh's movements as he sipped an unknown amber liquid – undoubtedly an alcohol of some form – ready to bolt for the door at any given moment. Her expression was akin to that of a deer's when faced with a wolf toying with it, tensed up and just waiting for a moment to flee, no matter how futile the effort would be.

"Y-You're evil and disgusting," Kelsey spat, berating herself inside for how her voice trembled on the first word.

As much as she loathed to admit it, Kelsey was scared. She was not thinking of brave plans of escape, of ways to attack Lokesh - no, she was trapped in the mind-numbing feeling of being the prey in the hunt; and her mind kept going back to when she'd watched the brothers hunt; how futile their prey's attempts to get away were when faced with such a magnificent machine designed to kill and fight.

Lokesh was the tiger now, and Kelsey was the prey desperately seeking a path to escape on even though the end was obviously drawing near.

It made her bitter to think of it now, but Kelsey knew now that she relied too much on the Rajaram brothers to protect her, for one of the princes to ride up and be her knight in shining armor. Now she had no Ren, no Kishan, not even Mr. Kadam or Nilima to save her – it was all on her.

"Evil, am I?" His voice was silky, like a snake's whispering softly in her ear; a shiver rippled down Kelsey's spine as goosebumps rose along her arms.

Lokesh set his glass down on the polished surface of the desk, walking around the desk to stand a mere two feet in front of Kelsey, his eyes staring right into hers.

"_Evil_ is a mere matter of opinion," He said, closing the distance between them, leaning his forearms against the wall on either side of her head as he watched her expression.

Kelsey pressed her back against the hard stone, trying to put as much distance between her and the sorcerer as was physically possible; he was taller than her; she glared at the collar of his shirt, wishing it would catch on fire if she glared hard enough.

A finger touched her jaw, and Kelsey jerked away from the touch; Lokesh's fingers were cold and his grip hard as he lifted her chin up so that she was glaring instead at his eyes, though if anything he seemed amused by the obstinacy she was showing.

"The only thing that matters in this world is power," His voice was softer as he spoke this time, his lips very close to her own – far too close for her liking. "Those who have power, and those who do not. Those who seek power, and those too cowardly to do so. You will come to agree before long."

They stared at each for several heartbeats, Kelsey with bated breath and Lokesh with a small smirk playing on his lips; then he moved his head and pressed a small kiss to the side of her neck, just below her jawline.

Kelsey jerked backwards so fast her head hit the wall and produced a throbbing sensation, but the man had already moved away, barking an order in Hindi as he did so. The door beside her was thrown open, and she was forced back down the hallway to her cell once more.

She found she welcomed the solitude of her cell after the meeting with the sorcerer; Kelsey sat against the wall with her knees drawn up to her chest, arms wrapped around them, replaying the encounter over and over in her mind.

Her skin still itched where he'd kissed her.

* * *

**Okay, so this update is 5 months overdue. -_- There's several long stories that that can be attributed too, but I literally stayed up all night to work on this fic because you guys seriously deserved an update... I'm not even joking, it's 5:27 AM here in Texas. I went to Oregon over the summer though! Didn't get to go to Tillamook despite my pleas, though. :( Anywho - reviews are always loved, concrit welcome, and flames... Well, fire is my element, peeps. :)**


	4. Discomfort

**Her Saving Curse**

**Chapter 4 – Discomfort**

* * *

It was day seven of Kelsey's imprisonment – officially one week since she'd been hit with tranquilizer darts and taken from her friends.

She'd seen Lokesh twice more since the first meeting five days ago; once the day after the first encounter, and once the day prior to the current one she was living through. Their meetings always entailed Kelsey being shoved through the door to examine the tiger rug with something akin to morbid curiosity, after which she would always stand as close to the door as possible before Lokesh eventually acknowledged her. They spoke of trivial things during these times – or rather, Lokesh spoke of trivial things and Kelsey ignored him unless it was to give a sharp-tongued rebuking to one of his musings.

Lokesh seemed unfazed by her rebellious demeanor, but he always ended their mocking excuses for 'talks' with some sort of dark observation or bit of advice to her, followed by a sinister, demented form of affection such as a peck on the cheek. Kelsey knew these displays didn't spark from any sort of warmth the heartless man felt for her, but rather, they were to prove a point – a point of possession.

Sitting in the square stone cell she loathed so much, Kelsey's grubby fingers rubbed absent-minded circles on the stone she had used to scratch out the seven tallies on the wall, one day at a time. Her mind kept replaying how she was captured over and over in her mind; and the little voice of her conscience kept whispering cruel observations to her. _Just think_, it mocked, _if helpless little Kelsey had listened to Ren for once, she wouldn't be in this mess, now would she?_

"Even my own mind is out to get me in this place," Kelsey muttered, scowling, only to cry out as the pad of her finger tore open on a sharp outcropping on the pebble.

Hissing in a manner amusingly similar to a house cat, she drew her thumb up to suck on the new wound reproachfully, examining the glistening dot of crimson on the innocent-looking pebble. Head tilted to one side, Kelsey traced a finger along the side she'd been using to count the days – it was apparent she'd only been using one side, over and over again, to make the marks, if the way one side had been flattened into an unnaturally straight, carved off line was any indication. The stone bore the marks of the vicious strikes she'd hit the wall with, and Kelsey remembered crying and screaming of frustration as she battered at the wall for no apparent reason early that morning, her daily mark having long been scratched out, but she had continued to beat at the wall with absolute hatred on her tearstained face. It would seem this small, insignificant inanimate object and the walls that entrapped her had become the outlet for her haywire emotions in the week of her capture.

The young woman was sitting against the wall, head slightly tilted, staring vacantly out the barred window. It was a view she'd observed many times since the initial storm that had greeted her arrival, obscuring the scenery from sight. Below her window, the side of the building fell down what must be at least ten stories – Kelsey had mused silently that if things got desperate enough, she could always squeeze through the bars and end it all by jumping – and despite her morbid thoughts, her stomach dropped a bit when she noticed the decaying state of the weathered stone where the bottom of the window met the wall – if the building she was being held in was in such a state, who was to say that it wouldn't just randomly collapse, taking her to the ground with it?

A sprawling, tropical landscape spread out for what must have been several miles into the distance, brightly colored birds flying above, though none had visited her since the one that had sung for her days before. A humid cloud seemed to hover over the forest, so that Kelsey could only see the tallest of the trees, and she sweated profusely in the grimy, torn tee and jeans she still donned from the time of her capture. In the far distance, just a thin band on the horizon, Kelsey thought she could see the glimmering of water, the sea perhaps, stretching as far as the eye could see from left to right.

Broken from her reverie by the clanging of her cell doors, Kelsey's head shot up with a frown. In the week she'd been here, she'd become familiar with the schedule forced on her – they brought her scant meals at dusk and dawn, even if she wasn't awake at the time, and she was let out twice a day to use a very primitive bathroom that she was thankfully allowed privacy to use, after which she was escorted straight back to her cell. The only other times she was free of her prison were when Lokesh requested her presence – which was perhaps worse than sitting in a cell all day long – and it was not time for any of the other daily functions, leaving her confused by the ever-present guards' actions.

The guard was the one who spoke English, and if there were any of the men she'd met here that Kelsey hated _less _than the others, it was him – at least she could understand what they wanted her to do when he was around.

"Come," He barked, gesturing impatiently.

As soon as Kelsey came near enough, her elbow was seized and she was marched down the narrow aisle in a direction different than the way she'd been every other outing.

"Where are we going?" She couldn't help but ask, curiosity getting the better of her.

Silence was her only response, and irritation gripped Kelsey like a fist; she dug her toes into the ground and yanked on the hand holding her with all of her strength.

"I _said_, where are we going?" She demanded, retreating several steps back from the now tensed up man she had broken free from.

Without warning, he turned and the back of a weathered hand popped across the side of her face, making her cry out - he had _slapped_ her; Kelsey now glared at him far more ferociously than before. The man seized her arms again and walked her down the hallway with both arms held behind her as if they were handcuffed. He never spoke, to answer her question or otherwise, and Kelsey decided that knowing their destination was not worth another stinging blow.

The guard didn't let her stop walking until they reached what seemed to be the far end of the building, the walls surrounding them seeming to be of slightly better quality than the rest that Kelsey had seen. The bulky man finally let go of her with one hand, jerking a scratched brown door open, and Kelsey was astonished to see a slightly ragged-edged elevator shaft yawning at them from the doorway.

The man pressed a button hidden from her view, and with an awful scraping, clanking sound accompanied by metallic groaning, a set of rusted elevator doors finally slid up into view, their stop bumpy and rough. Perhaps the building wasn't as old as Kelsey had assumed, but the elevator before them certainly wouldn't have passed United States safety inspections.

Despite the slight whimper she had made and the dragging of her feet, Kelsey was herded into the elevator, and she began to breathe more heavily as the metal box housing her gave a sudden lurch downwards. Their descent was choppy, with the elevator falling fast and then jolting to slow down, only to make another fast drop, taking Kelsey's stomach with it every time it did so. Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut and she was digging her nails into her palms by the time she was ushered out onto what, according to the almost entirely dirt-concealed display in the elevator, was floor one.

If Kelsey had thought the building's interior near the elevator had been of a higher class than the rest fo the building, floor one was five-star hotel worthy. The lights in this new hallway she was forced down didn't flicker as the ones far upstairs did, the paint wasn't peeling, the doors weren't scratched, the ceiling plaster wasn't crumbling, the walls weren't smeared with mud and red stains Kelsey preferred not to think about, and the hallways and rooms they passed appeared far more furnished. Above all, the walls, ceiling, and floor were not made of lifeless gray stone, which immediately improved Kelsey's opinion of the lowest level.

Shoved through a doorway halfway down the hallway, Kelsey glared up at the taller man, rubbing the angry red handprints wrapping around her wrists from his grip. His brown eyes held _nothing_. No pity. No sympathy. No _dislike_, even. Kelsey would have liked it better if he clearly displayed hatred for her, but instead he was creepily lifeless, as if he were a flesh-wrapped android.

"Ten minutes," He said, slamming the door in her face; Kelsey heard a lock click from the outside.

Scowling once more, Kelsey turned to take in the room; it was very small, about the size of a walk-in closet. A low-to-the-ground woven wooden bench occupied the far wall, a single bare light bulb swayed on a cord from the ceiling, and it was with a small sound of delight that Kelsey noticed the shower in one corner.

Scanning the walls and ceilings suspiciously for any form of security camera, Kelsey gave a small grin for the first time since her capture; her clothes were peeled off in record time, discarded in a heap on the floor by the shower. Pale fingers turned the rusty knob inside the shower, and Kelsey peered in the tiny, cracked and dirty mirror on the wall while she waited.

Bruises, a dot of dried blood from her more recent injuries, and the new, faint impression of a hand across her right cheek marred her fair skin. Brown hair hung loose and limp, mud, blood, and grease from not being washed made it appear almost black. Biting her lip, Kelsey traced one of her ribs, which were far more prominent after turning her nose up at stagnant food for a week, despite chastising herself for doing so.

The water in the shower continued to stream out at icy temperatures, but a cold shower was better than no shower – and besides, it was hot enough that she might actually prefer a cold shower. The water came in bursts, the pressure weak and the color faintly rust-tinged, but to Kelsey it felt like heaven; layers of grime being scraped off by relentless fingernails. She was certain she'd torn a pound of hair from her scalp and taken off a full layer of skin; the water going down the drain was a disgusting shade, but she forced herself to step out after three much-too-short minutes she had counted off in her head. The last thing she wanted was for the guard to return for her while she was undressed.

Wrapped in a scratchy, stained towel, Kelsey glanced around with a frown. She was considering donning her soiled clothes again, but the basket on the bench caught her attention first. A hot, prickly feeling settled over her skin – she was _certain _that basket had not been there when she had entered the shower, but it was too late to worry about it now.

Her hands slipped slowly into the seemingly hand-woven basket, grasping soft and silky material which was promptly pulled out to examine closer. It was traditional-style garb for Indian women, if she was right; the rest of the material unfolded into a shape she recognized from the clothing Nilima had shown her on the rare occasion of free time.

Biting her lip, Kelsey debated silently before deciding clothes she wasn't totally sure how to wear were better than clothes in such a state of disrepair as her jeans. Jerking her hands through the waves of her hair, she ran a hand over the new clothes once again before pulling them on and shifting to examine herself in the mirror.

The _choli _top had sheer reddish straps going up around the back of her neck, the garment only being solid from just above to just below her bust; the top was sky blue with thin vertical stripes over other colors such, from fuschia to royal blue. A sunshine yellow skirt fell from her hips to the floor, faint diamond patterns outlined on it, with large, embroidered blue and purple flowers towards the bottom of the skirt. Sheer purple material was wrapped around her body in a manner Kelsey was sure was incorrect, draping off of her left shoulder. A thick border ran around the edge of the sari, with embroidered flowers matching the skirt scattered across the fabric.

Kelsey found herself attempting to stretch the top out to cover more, crossing her arms at the uncomfortable amount of bare skin displayed beneath the sheer material of the sari.

Frowning, she stuck her hand into the basket in a futile hope that there might be a more modest, American-style article of clothing, but her fingers found only two items remaining in the basket that certainly were not a shirt or pair of pants.

Pulling her hand back out to the light, Kelsey was unsurprised to see the simplistic pair of sandals, which were made up of only a foot-shaped piece of leather and a long piece of cord to tie around her ankle, but the long yellow piece of ribbon she had found made her freeze.

A sinking feeling filled Kelsey as her hand clenched into a fist, the trailing ends of the ribbon hanging out on either side. That was just too much of a coincidence to _be_ one – yet another creepy display, one that made her cringe to think that Lokesh had watched her enough to realize her affection for hair ribbons.

Kelsey pulled the straps of the sandals tight against her skin, ignoring how it dug into her leg – she didn't know where they would be going, but she didn't care to cut her feet up on the uneven floor of the cell she knew she'd eventually be returned to. Reluctantly, her hands moved up to comb through her damp hair, braiding it into a plait down her back and tying it off with the yellow ribbon; she couldn't help but grit her teeth as she did so, telling herself that she wasn't doing exactly what Lokesh wanted.

She had done it because it reminded her of Ren.

* * *

**I know, I know, two updates in two days?! I don't believe it, either, but I've been feeling very inspired for this story as of late! This chapter wasn't supposed to end here, but it turned into pretty much a filler chapter – I thought it would end up TOO long if I included everything I had originally planned. Next chap will be more interesting, and it's already under way.**

**Okay, 'Let Her Go' by Passenger came on the radio THREE TIMES while writing this chapter(and jamming with my headphones on, of course) and it reminds me of the Kelsey-Ren dynamic in Voyage. Yes? No? Sort of?**

** TigerWarrior09: Thanks! Your reviews always make me give a little buzz of happiness - it makes me glad to know someone is enjoying the story and my writing so much!**

**Reviews loved, concrit welcome, and you know the drill with flames!**


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